Sunday, August 9, 2015

Instant karma?

Vin Suprynowicz has a good article on the recent shooting at the black church in SC:

“There is no greater coward than a criminal who enters a house of God
and slaughters innocent people engaged in the study of scripture,” said
Cornell William Brooks, president of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, after a visitor to a Bible study group at
the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church shot and killed
the preacher and eight parishioners there in Charleston, South Carolina
June 17.

I agree with Mr. Brooks. I hope we can all agree that when people arm
themselves and travel to a church with the pre-arranged plan to open
fire and kill people at that church –- peaceful, innocent people who
have caused no one harm — that’s evil, and anyone who commits such an
act should be charged with multiple felonies and put on trial.

That's my opinion, too. There's a bit more to the story, that gives me the title of this post:

Why didn’t anyone at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church
in Charleston — anyone but the attacker, that is to say — have and use a
self-defense gun on the evening of June 17? It turns out it wasn’t just
“bad luck.”

PASTOR DISARMED HIS PARISHIONERS

A board member for the National Rifle Association blames the
gun-control position of South Carolina state Sen. Clementa Pinckney —
the very same man who was killed with his parishioners in the Charleston
church shooting — for the deaths of his congregation, Nick Gass of
Politico reported on June 19.

If state Sen. -– who was also the Rev. -– Pinckney had voted to allow
gun owners to carry their own weapons, Charles Cotton wrote, “eight of
his church members … might be alive.”

In one thread discussing the previous day’s shooting at the Emanuel
AME Church, a user with the name ShootDonTalk wrote: “Something else to
consider: The pastor of this church, who was killed, is a State
Legislator in S.C.”

“And he voted against concealed-carry,” 13-year NRA board member
Cotton responded. “Eight of his church members who might be alive if he
had expressly allowed members to carry handguns in church are dead.
Innocent people died because of his position on a political issue.”

The bill that Pinckney voted against in 2011 would have permitted gun
owners to bring guns into public places like churches and daycare
centers. It ultimately failed.

Read the whole article. Well worth your time.

I've said it before, and it can't be said enough - if guns are banned, only criminals and the police will have guns. And the criminals will not respect anyone's wishes as to "gun-free zones".

Just south of me, in the People's Republik of Ill-Annoys, the city of South Beloit has decided to post huge signs with a gun in a red circle-slash at the entrances to their parks. If they were honest about it, the sign would have the words "Free Fire Zone", or "No Self Defense Allowed" in large letters, so patrons do not mistakenly get the idea that "no guns" means "safe".